"Where be your gibes now? Your gambols?"

Death is possibly the single certainty of human life, and is consequently a topic of considerable concern to existential thinkers. In fact, almost the entirety of existentialism is built upon the fact that death renders life to be meaningless. It may be relatively simple to believe such a statement with a 21st century perspective, given that we as a species now rely on science more than anything else to describe the universe, and that ideas critical of religion are able to be more widely spread with our modern freedoms of press and speech. However, it would have been quite another thing to believe that death is the ultimate end in 16th century Denmark (or, England), particularly if one had a noble background such as Hamlet. While his religious views are not certain, the graveyard scene in act 5 scene 1 certainly implies that the Prince is unsure about the significance of human life in the face of death. The scene naturally builds off his questioning of existence from act 3. The most significant feature of Hamlet's speech in 5.1 is his pervasive use of questioning. He inquires upon gazing at a skull, "why may not that be the skull of a lawyer? Where be his quiddities now, his quillities, his cases, his tenures, his tricks?" This questioning forces the reader to truly consider what life actually means, and conveys much uncertainty in the Prince's thoughts. From line 100 to 114 he continues this line of questioning, and later even poses questions to Horatio. Perhaps the most powerful instances of his questioning come when he considers where Yorick's merriment has gone, and then Alexander and Caesar's power. The emotional connection in the former and the sheer awe of the latter come together to paint a rather bleak and petty image of human life. This conception of the human condition, though, is essential to existential thought, and it is exactly because Hamlet questions thus that I consider him to be existential.